Week of September 23, 2019

We met Mattie, Maisy and Cheddar this week. They are the CES reading dogs. The children will have a chance to read to them on Thursdays this year.

**** Please be sure to check the other pages in this blog for updates!****

 Fundations = new letters introduced

Writers Workshop = new muscle/sight words introduced

Important Dates = schedule changes for each month

Reader’s Workshop

We started our rhyming work this week with a great

start incorporating nursery rhymes into Readers Workshop. Your child is bringing home a packet of nursery rhymes that we practiced this week. The nursery rhymes may be kept at home for your child to practice over the next few weeks. I am asking the children to use their pointer finger to point to each word as he/she reads in order to keep track of where they are and to focus more closely on the words. Please have your child point to the words as they practice at home.

Writer’s Workshop

     This week the children continued working on writing  stories. The children are working on the illustrations and then coming to me to help with some of the writing. Many of the children are using their letter sounds to try to write words on their own. Fantastic!!! It was great to see the children so excited about writing.

Fundations

We have introduced the letters c, a, o, d, g and q in the past few weeks. Please make sure you check the Fundations page of this blog every week to see which letters we reviewed and which new letters were introduced. Here is a video of the children using their letter and sign language knowledge.

Morning Meeting
Greeting: Name Cards
Activity: The Please and Thank You Song

Theme Time

        We have continued our work on creating a community of learners this week. The children are learning to be good listeners, how to take turns and how to be patient even when it is difficult. Although we will be moving onto a new focus soon, our overall focus all year with be social skills and how to interact appropriately with others.

 Skill Review

     It is great to review skills at home. Teaching children is a group effort and it will take all of us. At home, your child could be working on letter names and sounds, writing letters and words, writing numbers, counting and writing muscle words. You will always find the skills we are  working on in this class blog. The review will help those skills stick so that further learning is not made more difficult.

Color Week

Next week is color week in kindergarten. We are asking the children to wear a specific color on each day of the week. If your child does not have anything to wear of a certain color, please do not worry about it. Please note we have added yellow to Tuesday...Wednesday is school picture day.

Monday – red

Tuesday – orange and/or yellow

Wednesday – School Picture Day

Thursday – green

Friday – blue/purple

Math Lessons

   We continued our work on numeracy this week. We are starting with the basic skills for numbers 0 to 10. We have learned how to form the numbers when writing, counting forward and backward, number combinations, finger patterns as well as number quantity.

Week of September 16th

We are having so much fun in kindergarten! It is so nice to see all of these happy faces every morning. 

Here is an update on our week. Please be sure to check the other pages on this blog each week to see even more information.

Reader’s Workshop

     This week our focus was on Concepts About Print. That means that we talked about and learned more about where a reader starts to read, which direction they go as they read and how to go down to the next line. These are all skills the children will use as we start to read in the classroom.

Writer’s Workshop

     The children started drawing pictures and using some words to tell stories on paper. We will continue to work on these stories over the next few weeks and they will be here for everyone to enjoy in October at Open House.

Theme Time

        Throughout the kindergarten year, we will talk about the 16 Habits of Mind. We will cover 2 every month.  For the past two weeks we have worked on what it looks like and sounds like when you are managing your impulsivity. We discussed what our bodies look like and feel like when we are being impulsive and how our actions make others feel. We created a stoplight to remind us to Stop, Think and then Choose a behavior. It is always a choice to be impulsive but there is probably a better choice if you just Stop and Think.This week we have been talking about being persistent. It is great to hear kindergartners give friendly reminders to classmates when it seems like they are giving up. It is great to hear the children say to each other... “Be persistent, you will get it. Don’t give up.” This week we started to talk about Managing Impulsivity.

Math Lessons

    We have continued to learn how to form the numbers from 0 to 10. In your child's home folder, you will find a sheet with the rhymes we use to help us remember their formation. These rhymes are also on the math page of this blog. Practicing number writing is a great thing to work on at home to support our work at school. The children are being very persistent in forming their numbers and making sure they are not written backwards.

Morning Meeting

GREETING: Name Cards

ACTIVITY: Just Like Me!

Our Daily Schedule

  ***Please have your child bring his/her library book back to school by Wednesday every week. If you finish with the library book prior to Wednesday, feel free to send it back to school early. The children get very disappointed when they are not able to pick a new library book because they forgot their old one. There is a container inside the classroom door for library books.

***Please make sure your child wears sneakers to school on Tuesdays and Fridays for PE.

Muscle Word

This week’s muscle word was…

me, be,  we

As muscle words are introduced the children are expected to spell and read them correctly. It would be great practice for the children to read and write their muscle words at home. Our Muscle words so far are…. I, a, yes, no and me (we, be).

The new muscle words as well as any previous muscle words can always be found on the Writer's Workshop page of this blog.

Important Dates

Don't forget to check the "Important Dates" page of this blog. I will try to list all important, upcoming dates by month on that page in order to give you a heads up about things that are happening at school.

Week of September 9

Reader’s Workshop

    This week our focus was on what it looks like and sounds
like when you are listening to a story. The children practiced
staying quiet, raising their hand if they had something to say
about the story and looking at the pictures to enjoy the book.
We also practiced sharing our thoughts about a book with a
partner.

Writer’s Workshop

   This week’s writing focus was on being illustrators. We
have continued to practice drawing people as well as animals
and adding details (including colors) to our illustrations.

Muscle Word

This week’s muscle words are…

yes     &       no

      As muscle words are introduced, the children are expected
to spell and read them correctly. It would be great practice for
the children to read and write their muscle words at home.
Last week we introduced  I and a. So far they have four
muscle words on their word wall in the classroom. Every
week our new muscle word(s) will be listed on the Writer’s
Workshop page in our class blog.

Theme Time

        We have spent this week and will continue to spend
the next few weeks working on managing impulsivity. We
focused on how to be respectful listeners when others are
talking, sharing school toys & tools as well as controlling our
bodies.

Fundations
Fundations is a whole class phonics and literacy

program with engaging daily lessons. Each week the
children will learn the name, formation and key word to
go with individual letters. We introduced the letters
‘c’ and ‘o’ this week. In order to remember this letter we
say the name, key-word and sound of the letter…

Cc - cat - /c/

Oo - octopus- /o/.

Each week I will list the letters that we focused on in class on
the Fundations page of this blog. We begin by introducing all
of the lower case letters as those are the letters that are used
most often in writing and reading.

      

Label Everything

  Please label everything you send to school. That includes
clothing, tupperware, outdoor clothes…

Math Lessons

    This week we continued to work on forming the
numbers  0 to 5 as well as their quantity, finger patterns
and equations. The children should practice writing these
numbers as well as combinations to make those numbers
at home (ie. 2 + 3 = 5). Ask your child to say the rhyme
that goes along with the formation of each number. If your
child forgets any of them, you can view the rhymes on the
mathematics page of this blog.

Morning Meeting

GREETING: Hickety, Pickety Bumble Bee

ACTIVITY: Buzz (a counting game)

Our Week

       Well, we made it through our first full week of school.
Please remember...if your child’s after school arrangements
change, we must receive a note from you or you need to call
the office to let us know. We can not go by what your
kindergartner tells us. We must have a note or verbal
confirmation over the phone in order to change your child’s
regular after school arrangements.

A Look Ahead

C.O.L

September 27th

starting at 8:10

Wear green and/or yellow/gold to show school spirit!

All family members are invited to join us

School Picture Day

October 2nd

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Week of September 3rd

Outdoor time is a favorite time in kindergarten  

Reader’s Workshop

   Our Reader’s Workshop curriculum begins with daily literacy mini lessons.  The students participate in the skill presented in the mini lessons as a whole group, then in small groups and finally independently.  This week we focused on procedures and routines. Such as; how to come to the carpet, how to sit so everyone around you can see, having a quiet body when listening to a story, how to raise your hand when you want to share your thinking...

We also introduced different  areas of our classroom (i.e. blocks, games, puzzles, art materials, books...).

Theme Time

          This week started our work with the Habits of Mind. For the next few weeks we will be working on Managing Impulsivity. This is a big chore for many kindergartners as they want what they want when they want it and can sometimes act impulsively. The children are learning to "Stop, Think and Choose" when it comes to acting impulsively. We have done some role playing, read stories about characters managing impulsivity and participated in activities to build impulse control.

IPads

    In our classroom, we will be using IPads during literacy stations and math stations to play with educational apps. If you would rather your child not use the IPads at school, please let me know.

Muscle Word

     The children will learn new high frequency words (sight words) each week. The words introduced will be posted on our word wall. We call them “Muscle Words” because if you know how to read and write them they make you a strong reader and writer.

     This week’s words are I and a.

Each week the list of “Muscle Words” will be updated on the "Writer’s Workshop” page this class blog.

Snack

  If you send in a snack that requires a spoon (ie. yogurt, apple sauce…) please be sure to place a spoon in your child’s snack bag each day. I will have your child place it back in his/her bag at the end of snack time. Also, please place your child’s snack in a separate bag from their lunch
if they are bringing a lunch
from home and only send in
one or two items for snack.
Thank you!

Daily Schedule

  I have placed a copy of our daily schedule in the back of your child’s home/school folder. Please take a look at this schedule. Your child will be participating in PE classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Please send your child to school with sneakers every Tuesday and Friday in order for them to participate in PE activities. The children will have the opportunity to check out a library book on Wednesdays. Please return your child’s library book every Wednesday (or earlier in the week) so he/she may choose a new book to take home that afternoon.

A Look Ahead

C.O.L

September 27th

starting at 8:10

All family members are invited to join us

School Picture Day

October 2nd

Morning Meeting

     Every morning we will meet on the carpet for our Morning Meeting. We will greet each other, do an activity together, share about ourselves and read the morning message together. Ask your child to tell you about this week's greeting and activity.

GREETING: Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom

ACTIVITY: Freeze Dance (CD)

Book Orders

    On the Return to School side of your child’s folder,  you will find the September book orders. If you would like to place an order, fill out the back of the book order form (with your child’s name) and send your order and payment back to school by September 13th. You may pay with cash or a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs. You may order online if you would like at www.scholastic.com with our class code which is DVTHH. There is a link at the bottom of this page to Scholastic Books. When ordering online, you pay with a credit card and your order will automatically be sent to my email so there is no need to fill out a paper form. Thank you!

Math Lessons

Each week we will have whole class lessons that teach key mathematical skills and concepts. The children will be able to practice their learning as small groups and individuals at stations as well as during hands on activities.

Number corner (calendar) involves routines and lessons based on the classroom calendar. We will look at patterns, numbers, equations and graphs just to name a few skills covered during number corner.

Writer’s Workshop

     The children will be engaged in mini-lessons, writing time, and sharing time each day as they become writers! This week we were illustrators and drew lots of pictures.

Our Week

       Well, we made it through our first four day week of kindergarten. We had a lot of fun and kept very busy. If you need to contact me, please do not hesitate to do so. You may write me a note and put it in your child’s folder or you may call me at (802)521-5610. If you ever need to change your child’s after school arrangements, you will need to call and talk to Beth Brown in the office. Please do not leave changes to schedules on my voicemail as sometimes I don’t get a chance to check my voicemail until after the children have left for the day.